When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan. -Proverbs 29:2
Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people. –Proverbs 14:34
A new day has dawned. Perhaps you were one of the millions watching a live screen of President Trump’s inauguration today. If so, you will most likely remember where you were when President Trump placed his hand on the Bible and was sworn into office. I was sitting in a chapel room with K-12th grade Christian school students. I found myself reminiscing my childhood times when President Ronald Reagan was leading the USA and patriotism was running high.
Morals and values were highly prized in that day and time. The next generation knows nothing of the days when America was spiritually great. They don’t know what the Jesus Movement was or how thousands of hippies gave their lives to Christ in the 70’s claiming One Way! The name Billy Graham, in the mind and hearts of the next generation, is synonymous to Joe Smith (just an ordinary name).
If you’re a 14 year-old living in America today, all you can remember is one President and his name is Obama. All you’ve known is division, terrorism, and that the government has promoted the homosexual and the transgender lifestyle. You’ve seen power stripped from police in uniform and given to the people. And you’ve known nothing but a media that is set on its own agenda. Yes, if you’re 14, all moral innocence and purity has been lost and America has not been so great to you.
I was reading an old blog post written by the late Adrian Rogers on this historic day and wanted to share some insights from this great pastor:
It appears that most Americans believe the economy is the top issue. But I had rather leave my children and grandchildren the legacy of a godly nation than great wealth to be squandered in a godless society. No, righteousness is our greatest need.
When we lose character—righteousness—then we will lose liberty. People who cannot live responsibly from within must be governed from without.
When government takes over, whatever it subsidizes, it must control. An example is our educational system—subsidized by government—which has gradually outlawed God in our schools. In place of the Ten Commandments, we have values clarification, the glories of our welfare state, one-world government and a new world order. Hitler said in 1920, “Give me the minds of the children, and in one generation I will give you the Fascist super state.” So in our public schools, the Bible is out and humanism is in.
As far back as 1983, The Humanist magazine stated, “The battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith. The classroom must and will become the arena of conflict between the old and the new, the rotting corpse of Christianity and the faith of humanism.” Classrooms became Humanism’s newly designated “Sunday School.”
Our forefathers said that our government is to “provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare.” Not “provide the general welfare.” When we see the government as a cow to be milked rather than a watch dog to be fed, we’re in trouble. Give us a land where freeborn Americans can go out and do what the Bible says: work. For “if a man will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thess. 3:10).
These are great quotes to read on a day like today! Trump said in his inauguration speech that he wants to put the power back into the hands of the people. This is a good thing but the real power is found in God, answering the prayers of his people. Where there is righteousness, there is liberty, and where there is liberty, there is room for God’s Spirit to work. Without a free country to live and work in, next generation ministry (NGM) might not even be possible.
The political structures and forms that are set up to guide both national and church governments matter. In a free country such as ours, next generation ministry can be attempted in a single-elder (single-pastor) or plural-elder congregational form of church government. No matter your choice, give next generation ministry a try and here’s my speech: “Let’s make America spiritually great again.”